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STATEN ISLAND 

ONE VAST CITY 

ONE MILLION INHABITANTS 
o»rs BOTrs. to srs^xr iroRZ 



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With |iis Eyes Full-Opened 

BY 

GEORGE BATCEELOR 



TOTTENVIJLLE 

1869 



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STATEN ISLAND 



1 



VAST CITY 

MILLION INHABITANTS 

HOUR TO NEW YORK 



Emerging in the neighborhood of the Atlantic basin 
like a natural dock — the first land descried by the spy- 
glass of the mariner as he rides into the Bay and the last 
to be discerned as he sails ocean-bound through the Nar- 
rows — Staten Island, more by its advantages of position 
than by any thrilling incident to signalize its career, has 
been consociated with the early discoveries of the Ameri- 
can continent. 

The Northmen — in their progressive explorations from 
the Danish peninsula to Iceland, from the Icelandic ports 
to the snowy wastes of Greenland, from the Greenlandish 
establishments to Labrador, and thence, along the coasts 
of New England, to more sunny latitudes — may have cast 
anchor near our hospitable shores, indulged in a clam 
chowder, or swallowed dozens of raw oysters on the shell* 
Who knows ? 



It is positively asserted that Verrazzani, navigating nn. 
der the lily-white flag of France, entered our harbor and 
looked smilingly upon the wood-crowned heights of the 
Island. 

Before risking his vessel further than the entrance of the 
Bay, Henry Hudson decided to visit in a boat the fragrant 
home of the Aquehongas, and oared his venturous course 
through the sinuosities of the Staten Island Sound. 

Out of the >taten Eylandt forests, the industrious colon- 
ists of the Netherlands, the ardent champions of protestant- 
ism in France, and the ambitious English, chipped their 
bouweries, plantations or farms. 

Since that time, this living concrete of all the nations 
of the earth, called the American citizen, whose favorite 
rendez-vous is the city of New York, has planted his tents 
over every part of our Insular Domain. 

II 

The commerce of the world gorges New York with mer- 
chandize and wealth. Industry dins his workshops. Im_ 
migration gluts his tenements. Under this triple impul. 
sion, the Metropolis has leaped from the Battery to the 
High Bridge. Every warehouse built, every bank erected, 
every shop established, are surely taking the place of a 
residence, and driving the people outside the precincts of 
Manhattan island. H<;)w much of these riches, what quan- 
tity of those products, what number of the trade-evicted 
New Yorkers, may we ask, ever cross to this Island ? 

The shape of Staten Island might be compared to that 
of a tortoise. You see its neck popping out of its case at 
Richmond Valley and its head sipping in the waters of 



3 

Tottenville. The fiery march of the Metropolis has Dot 
succeeded m accelerating its habitual pace. Every thing 
wears a placid tura in our midst. Every body looks un- 
concerned. 

"Away with the- hurry, and tumult, and follies of the 
wicked city ! Let us sleep our nights in undisturbed quiet 
and live our days in profound peace ! Our ancestors knew 
what they were about : we follow their worthy example." 
Such is the language too frequently heard from the mouths 
of those Inhabitants who would more largely benefit by 
the progress of the place. 

In a geographical sense, Staten Island belongs to New 
Jersey, whilst her political ties attach her to New York- 
Like a cut-off limb, she seems deprived of the exuberant 
vitality imparted to either of her relatives. |, \ 

The difficulties of interior and exterior communications 
— the absence of extensive manufacturing establishments 
— the reputed insalubrity of the climate — whatever may 
be the true reason, the lamentable fact can not be dis. 
proved that, in comparison with its neighbors, Staten Is- 
land has remained stationary. 

It is high time the Islanders should shake off their tra- 
ditional lethargy, so turtle-like, for the sake of their private 
interests as much as of public policy. At any rate — be it by 
slow and steady advances, by spasmodic and rapid strides, 
against our vehement protest or with our gracious con- 
sent — this Island is bound to grow to her adult size. We 
had better go forward of our own motion, methinks, than 
to be dragged along by new-comers. 



4 



III _ 

The federal government, the state, the town, the village, 
exercise in turn a certain authority over us. 

Divided and subdivided, the towns aspire to be elevated 
to the dignity of villages. 

Growing side by side, those villages will, before a long 
period elapses, overspread the whole island. Annoyed by- 
incessant conflicts of jurisdiction, taking into consideration 
the economies of government on a large scale, yielding to 
the promises of general efficiency resulting from unity of 
municipal organization, the Inhabitants shall vote down 
their villagery as a cumbersome piece of machinery, nnd 
proceed to legislate the union of these separate portions of 
the County. The combined corporations will be christened 

The City of Scaten Island. 



lY 



Staten Island comprehends a much greater extent of 
habitable ground than her big brother of the isle of Man. 
hattan. On account both of its vicinity and configuration, 
it is especially calculated to afibrd a debouche to the 
overflowmg population of the Imperial City. There might 
circulate, with ample elbow-room, in our water-bound City 
the modest aggregation of 

One Million Inhabitants. 



V 

For the purposes of congressional and state-senatorial 
representation, the Island forms part of a district only. 
It is also comprised in the Health, Excise, and Police 
Metropolitan districts. 

The jurisdiction of Richmond County, inclusive of the 
whole Island, offers the prototype of the fuller powers ot 
the incorporated City. 

The charter of Staten Island City should be framed 
with a view to constitute a concentrated, responsible, and 
consistent form of municipal government. Among its 
organic articles, this charter should contain one establish- 
ing Departments of General Education and of Public 
Works, respectively charged with promoting the welfare 
^ the coarser body and of its subtler host. 

The periodical contests over the election of the City offi- 
cers and, consequentially, discussions — intermingled, no 
doubt, with angry debates — about local and party ques- 
tions, could not fail to arouse the apathy of the least 
public-spirited citizens of the new community. 

YI 

Those timorous persons who admire nothing but the past 
and who already regard with fearful suspicions the small 
organizations that are instinctively crystallizing to-day, 
may dread this idea of a greater administrative area. They 
will oppose this consolidation on the ground, in the first 
place, that it may be next to impossible to manage prop- 
erly an establishment of such huge proportions, and, sec 



6 



ondly, because the administration of a populous and rich 
commonwealth is sure to open an artesian well of corrupt • 
ing influences a.nd jobbing practices, which the municipal 
borers will exploit until they reach hard pan. 

But space and time being reduced to the minimum ratio 
have proportionately augmented the possibilities of admin- 
istering, without inconvenience, cities and states embracing 
treble and quadruple the dimensions of the cities and states 
of olden times. That is incontestible. 

On the other hand, we must renounce altogether our 
cherished notion of republican government, if we are 
already constrained to assume, that personal integrity has 
taken an eternal flight from our land. Repressive laws 
may have the power to prevent vices from breaking out 
like epidemic diseases in the midst of society, but they do 
not produce virtue — a rare plant, it is the special sphere of 
our educators of the school, in the pulpit, from the press, 
around the domestic hearth, to cultivate it ever and every 
where, 

VII 

Certain folks pretend that ignorance is bliss. Believe it 
not : it is moral misery and intellectual blindness. The 
school-teacher who shows the young idea how to shoot is 
fulfilling a better employment of social forces than the 
policeman who clubs it down. 

Every man and woman^ every hoy and girl^ should 
hnow how to read and write. 



The results of wide-spread ignorance have been ascer- 
tained, let us try for once those of a truly universal edu- 
cation. Nothing short of a full test can decide the rela- 
tive superiority of advantages offered to the masses by 
the two irrepressible antagonists, Ignorance and Know- 
led ore. 

vin 

One of the points of the most urgent importance to be 
pressed upon the attention of the Council of Stateu Island 

City will be to direct their Department of Public Works, 
assisted by a committee of citizens of refined taste and 
ripe experience, to devise a unitary plan of roads serving 
the double object of facilitating the in-land and out-land 
commerce of the City. 

IX 

One hour should he the lirait of time spent in com- 
municating between all the parts of Staten Island. 

The present facilities for journeying through the differ- 
ent parts of the Island must be considered still very im- 
perfect. They are impeded by the want of a regular sys-' 
tem of road inter-communications. In effect, where a 
broad street should display its stately course, you mean- 
der through a tortuous lane. You are entrapped in an 
impa'^sible cul-de-sac whilst you should enter a wide ave- 
iiue. Here a road might be opened for the convenience of 
man and beast : you butt your patience against an inter- 
minable fence, causing long detours and presenting an 
effectuaJ barrier to social or business intercourse. 



8 



X 

The remotest part of Staten Istcmd should he within 
one hour of New York. 

In the matter of daily change of places, time is more 
than money : it is comfort rendered possible, travelling 
made pleasant, home brought next door to the shop, office, 
or store. 

The great desideratum of every person employed in 
New York is to be capable of effecting the passage from 
his and her home inside of an hour. The affectionate 
head of a family estimates a quick return at night as the 
indispensable condition of living out of the city. 

Admit at once that New York is, for all its Environs, 
the inexhaustible reservoir from which must be drawn a 
fast increase of their population. 

Every habitable point around the Metropolis, that can be 
attained within one hour from the City Hail, is seized with 
speculative avidity. The epoch of a complete filling up 
of dwelling-space possessing this one-hour-travelling con- 
dition is close at hand. Then, must inevitably come the 
turn of Staten Island, so long neglected, provided she 
prepares herself for the emergency by breaking down 
ev^y obstacle that uselessly prolongs the time now spent 
in passing from point to point. 

Let the railroad and ferry companies show an intelligent 
regard for their own dividends, added to a tender pity for 
the requests of their patrons, by multiplying and shorten- 
ing the means of communication : they will thereby create 
a demand for habitations, for the toilmg thousands, which 
the enterprise of the place will find practical difficulty in 



supplying. How is it possible to compete on equal terms 
with our more fortunate neighbors as long as our boards 
of directors stick to the time-honored policy of strict ex- 
clusion of the not-native, not- wealthy element, pursued by 
the companies that used to control the transit from Staten 
Island to New York : It is a narrow programme : cent 
wise and dollar foolish. Abandon it henceforward and 
forever ! 

With the correction of the defects simply hmted at 
above, One Single Hour should suffice to traverse the 
Island and reach New York, unless our velocipedes, de- 
moralized, fall to the ground ; unless our horses move 
like the slow-footed oxen, our railroads like Broadway 
omnibuses, and our ferry-boats like so many old-fashioned 
scows. 

XI 

Every lot of wet land shoxdd he drained. 

Staten Island is naturally healthy. On board the ferry 
boats, the observer can not help being impressed with the 
robust appearance of the passengers. 

People who venture to settle upon virgin soil must pay 
in their persons a heavy tribute for their abrupt invasion 
of wild nature. The most favored spots, the driest, the 
highest, in any part of the country, are known not to be 
exempt from the dire penalty of miasmal disease. 

The greatest portion of the Island stands on elevated 
ground, but it is afflicted, here and there, with sore spots 
that breed innumerable legions of piquant mosquitoes and 
instil the secret venom of chills and fevers into the veins 
of the babe and the mother, of the foreign as well as na- 
tive residents. 



10 

Therefore, nothing but a thorough, systematic drainage, 
will clear the soil of this nuisance. Nothing short of a 
general plan of operations should be attempted to eradi- 
cate the cause of the evil. 

XII 

If this Island were floating beside the coasts of Europe 
— in sight of the London quays, off Paris, within view of 
the Vesuvius, or by the lagoons of Venice — poets would 
have long ago rhymed the beauties of its picturesque re- 
treats, painters reproduced its lovely perspectives, its ma- 
rine-scapes, its celestial imagery. 

Nature has performed her assigned task on a magnifi- 
cent scale. She has contoured the land with a wall of 
liquid pearls. She has embanked hills upon hills, and com- 
bined glens and valleys. She has planted trees and graft- 
ed berries. It is incumbent upon man not to destroy what 
she has so wisely provided for his wants and pleasure, and 
to adapt the ground to the modern improvements required 
by our civilization. Sow, plant, and turf. Build, pave, 
and flag. Embellish nature instead of degrading it. 

What could compare in charms, for instance, with a 
circular boulevard of immense width, belting the entire 
range of the shores of the Island ? What grand views ! 
What graceful succession of sea prospects ! What agree- 
able visions of natural and cultivated scenery ! 

XIII 

After having, for our part, settled the Island, convert- 
ing it into a city animated by a million of thinking souls ; 



II 

after organizing its varione departments, and prescribing 
honesty and promptness as the order of the day and night ; 
after having drained its marshes and adorned its man- 
sions and highways — ^is it futile to hope that some manly 
man, a benevolent caprtalist, will step forward and do 
his share of the good work ? 

Come, practical Reformer, and raise, on those thousand 
knolls radiant with sunshiny emeralds, a thousand cottages, 
in which you will have the enviable happiness to see 
swarms of happy Children, of contented Housekeepers, 
and of Laborers relieved from the extortions of rented 
homes. Do not give these dwellings away — a premium 
to idleness — but sell them, do we say, at fair rates, paya- 
ble in monthly installments. 

Think of those visionary wishes, men who know not 
what to do with your money. Fancy, as you recline up- 
on your elegant couches, the number of families enjoying 
the fruit of your enlightened liberality, and blessing youi 
name for generations and generations ! 

If one Peabody is not in store for us, several philan- 
thropists might concert measures to realize this wide- 
awake dream. They might conduct the migration of the 
people toward such places as this, where land is cheap 
and easy of access, where parks blossom, where school 
houses elevate their cornices abovej the level of common 
ignorance, where churches chaunt the glories of an eter- 
nal God, where telegraphs tick-tick and railroads rattle. 



12 



XIY 

Fellow-Staten-Islandera, let us achieve, by gradual steps, 
the Unification of Richmond County. 

Promote the Populization of its farthermost nooks and 
corners by offering a resting-place, fanned by sea breezes, 
to the over-busy and over-taxed citizens of the Metropo- 
lis, by working out the iron mines of the Island and by 
shaping useful pottery out of its friable soil. 

Plan and execute the Beautification of its uplands and 
lowlands, endeavoring to make of the Island a Continuous 
Garden, a Mammoth Palace of Industry, a Residential 
Human Hive. 

Let us aid nature in perfecting the Healthization of our 
sea-girt abode. That deserves a fair trial 

XY 

In the morning, from the deck of the boat, you stare at 
the sun silver-plating the ripples of the Bay and gilding 
the southern shores of Staten Island. On your return, at 
night, you see it again reflecting its purple- tinted hues on 
the opposite side. Thus, in its daily evolutions, it rolls 
around the Island — from New-Brighton the Coquettish to 
Ward's-Point the Busy — the glowing magnificence of its 
rise and set. 

May, likewise — O Gem of the Bay ! —the sun of pros- 
perity surround your prospective City life with its benefi- 
cent mom and evening rays ! May they never cease to 
illuminate your expected passage to higher destinies ! 






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